Solar Mission goals may be reduced

New Delhi: The goals of Solar Mission may be reduced from 20,000 MW to 4,000 MW due to fund shortage, climate expert Sunita Narain has said.

"The 20,000 MW plan which envisaged a budget of Rs 270,000 crore has been found to be prohibitively expensive.

The mission plan is to provide Rs.17.50 per MW feed-in tariff to solar power generators for 20 years," the member of the Prime Minister`s Council on Climate Change said yesterday
"Out of this, Rs.5.50 will be paid by the utilities and the central government will pay the rest. The Finance Ministry, however, has made clear that there was no way it could fund this (Rs.270,000 crore) money."

So the goal is being reduced to 4,000 MW, which would cost the government Rs.90,000 crore over 20 years from the day the mission kicks off, Narain, who heads an NGO Centre for Science and Environment, said.

The goals will be formally unveiled by the Prime Minister on Monday.
The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission is one of the eight announced as India`s National Action Plan on Climate Change and will be implemented under the close watch of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

The mission will be implemented in phases with the Cabinet already approving setting up of 1,100 MW of grid solar power and 200 MW capacity of off-grid solar applications utilizing both solar thermal and photovoltaic technologies in the first phase.The government has sanctioned Rs 4,337 crore for initial work in this regard.

The solar mission also proposes to ease duty regime on import and production to give a fiscal incentive to private players.